vnfeined zeale so your presēt misfortune stands in such compassion with me that if to my want were ioyned welth with my wil were matched conuenient libertie you should know that though I am innocent of your fault yet I would be partner of your paine or if as you stand in ful power to distribute dispose your goods you had also the facultie to impart your perplexities the world shuld be iudge whether my frendshp stretch to affect your goods or to cōmunicate with your fortune calamitie And as I cānot but cōfesse that you haue always expressed towards me one perpetual nobilitie boūtie of mind so I hope you wil not denie but I haue retributed that recōpence which belongs to the power of so poore a friend But as I know you haue this propertie in nature to kepe in continual memorie the good turnes you receiue of others so if I forget the benifites which you haue bestowed of me let my profession suffer indignitie by the which I holde the countenaunce of my reputatiō so wil I wade no further in protestatiō since great offers are vsed amongst staungers and good déedes ought to be familiar with true meaning friendes I know this banishement may bréede you some conceyt by the opinion which this court may haue of you and I doubt not but asmuch the Ioye of your enimies will dispight you as the displeasure of your friendes will grieue you for that in a chance of calamitie most men are more sorie for the their enimies can say then for the martirdome they indure Plutarke in his Apothegmes recites of a famous Captaine and Louer of the Lacedemoniens to whome a certaine Reader of the Atheniens making his complaint that the men at Armes in his Camp reproched thē of Athens answered that as the thing that is well kept is hardely lost that nothing prouokes the thiefe sooner then necligence so if the Atheniens had tied care and Circumspection to their wordes and Actions they had neither falne into the Mouthes of the Lacedemoniēs nor feared their malice Job saith Factus sum mihi met ipsi grauis meaning that the misaduentures and disgraces which happen to vs for the most part our selues doe search them For as the power of fortune is to do more harme in one hower then good in many Hundreth yeares so when the chaunge falleth it blindes our eyes that we cannot deserne it and binds our handes that we cannot helpe it making vs Instruments euen against our selues in the execution of our proper mishap But for your part Sir if you had eyther followed my direction or ioyned your selfe to the aduise of the Constable your deare vncle the ignorance and rashnesse of your hoate youth had not caried you thus far to your own ruine yea you had preuēted that which now wyth payne you suffer The vengeance which you sought to take ought not to be grounded vpon so small occasion séeing oftentimes reason demaundes execution of a thing which time will not suffer to be done by which meane are spoyled many particuler causes not for that they were not iust but because they were not followed in season for as conuenient is the obseruation of time place to prosecute a businesse as in due season to throw the séede into the earth to the end to haue a good haruest therefore in your quarrell or pretence of action to the Dukedom of Medina Sidonia much better had it become the vertue of a noble Gentleman and farre more suretie to your title to haue demaunded it in Parliament by iustice then to recommēd your selfe to the Bishop of Camore I haue often tolde you that tyrants committe their triall to Armes and the iust sort referre their causes to the arbytrement of the Lawes Euen so when I sawe you ioyne your selfe to the good Bishop I felt great coniecture of the ill successe of your cause in which I doubted not but he would rayse occasion to vndoe you that earst made no conscience to put in perill the whole Realme disobey the king deceiue his confederates dissemble euen with his own opinion For where in one man doe méete incertaintie of affection and malice of nature there is no other hope in that man then distrust Periurie wordes and reuenge I put you in remembrance of all these more to reprehende you then to comfort you and with all to reduce to your knowledge that if you suffer any present affliction thinke it is for no offence presently committed but for the falt that then you did for as euery offence hath his punishement so God being bound to no time vseth to visit our olde insolencies euen whom we accompt our selues most innocent More 〈◊〉 is it to your wise friendes to suffer your banishment obeying the Prince then to sée you Duke of Medina with the displeasure of his Maiestie and farre better shal you expresse that which is loked for of you if simplie you attribute to the infirmitie of your discretion that which in good equitie cannot but carie the very nature and habite of a great falt Oh how well doth it become the reputation of a valiant knight to deserue to be holden gratious in the sight of his prince and with good and true seruices to enterteine the estate and fauour he hath of him expressing alwayes this true effect and example of readie obedience that if eyther in the court the Kingdome or any dominion of the Prince there moue any faction trouble quarrell tumult or mutinie he may with libertie be heard speake and giue occasion to be employed but not of himselfe to practice secreat confederacie nor yet without Authoritie to intrude himselfe into the councell or managing of affayres of estate For the businesse of kingdomes conteyne in them many secret difficulties more daungerous to be reformed then easie to wéeld which we sée dayly in sundry cōmon weales euil gouerned worse reformed for that for the most part the popular sort is ready to reuolt and very hard to be appeased great paine had Catiline to reforme Rome Socrates Athens Ptolome Pentapolis Promotheus Egipt and Plato the Siciliens But in the ende of all these enterprises where some of these noble men escaped death the rest suffered banishement their comonweales notwithstanding in more broyle then before But now to the matter of your exile and the remedies proper to men in your fortune In which if I satisfie not your passion I doubt not but the lawe of our frendship will leade you to iudge wel of my reasons assuring you that I had rather succour you then comfort you Weying Sir with your present condition being banished in Afrika the consideration that you are of the frée Countrey of Spaine I doubt not but the remembrance of the pleasures you haue passed in Spaine will make this exchange more painfull to you being now restrained in Afrika for the loue of our countrey is so naturall to vs and we so partiall in our
of the good turnes he doth for him And therfore in the case of liberalitie or clemencie by how much the person is vnworthy that receiueth the benefit by so much more is he to be cōmended that bestoweth it For that only may be sayde is giuen when he that giueth giues without respect So that he that giues in hope of recompence deserues not to be called liberal but to pretend vsery Thou knowest wel that in the time of the battell when the encoūter was most hot I offred thée nothing worthy of reproch euen so thou hast now to iudge that if in the furie of warre thou foundest me faithfull and merciful I haue now no reason to exercise rigor holding thée within the precinct of my house So that if thou saw mercy in me at the instant when thy hands were busie to spill my bloud thinke not that my clemencie shall faile thée calling thée to the communion and felowship of my table The prisoners of thy campe can assure thée of my dealing amongest whom the hurt are cured at my charges the dead buried according to the place of souldiers wherein if I exercised this care vpon such as sought to spoyle me thinke there is farre greater plentie of grace to thée that comes to serue me And so leauing thée in the hands of thine owne counsell I wishe thée those felicities which thy honorable heart desireth To the Duke of ALVA conteyning an exposition of a text of the Apostle with other antiquities TOgether with your letter right excellent Duke I haue receiued your particular remembrances wherein albeit I find it strange that you shoulde require aduise of me you on whom the mightie Caesar reapposeth most for the counsell of his affaires yet since it pleaseth you thus to exercise your humilitie publish science in me it belongs to my dutie rather to put my imperfection to your iudgemēt then to leaue your desire vnsatisfied And albeit in the consideration of your demaund I find some perplexetie to aunswere for that your honour séemes to solicit me in one thing and your conscience in an other yet I hope so to debate your difficulties that in your conscience shall remayn no doubt nor your reputation subiect to staine or burden For swéete is the felicitie of that mind whose desires are innocent and the workes of their life iust A Knight of the Gentiles and carelesse of the health of his soule delites more in the greatnes antiquitie of his race then in the vertue whereof his nobilitie tooke beginning which is found cōtrary in the inclination action of the true Christian Knight For he estéemes true nobilitie to depend of vertue all other things to be of fortune And therfore to be a good Knight to a true Christian accord well together in the law of Iesus Christ because to the good true Knight it belongs to vse courage in the effect of warre to be iust in his word liberall of his purse patient in aduersities and to shew clemencie where he hath cause and power of reuenge all which are expressely commaunded in the deuine law and are the most true glittering ensignes of a good christian knight Saint Paule ministreth this aduise to his disciple Timothe labora vt bonus miles willing him to trauell as a good Knight not in the toyles of a laborer fisher myller or mariner but in the labours of a good Christian Knight in whom it is to be estéemed no lesse greatnesse of heart to resist vices then to fight against enemies And where he bids him bring forth the exercise of a good Knight he meaneth that the goodnes of a Christian knight consisteth not in pompe and great magnificence but in the tranquillitie and innocencie of a good conscience for he that walloweth in the wealth of Cressus sléepes not in the bosome and quietnes of Abraham holdes no more then if he were Lord of a goodly vessell replenished with corrupt and poysoned liccour to haue riche tapistery massiue plate many great horses with other preparations to sports and pleasures bee thinges rather to kéepe our names in honour then to minister sauetie to our soules and yet as I can not déeme them to be instruments to entertayne our reputation so with all I can not alowe that they are the very effects of our damnation For we are bound to séeke God in humilitie and faith and not to limit his power nor debate what he ought to determine of our estate And as I must confesse that for the further value and reputation of Knightes and great Lordes their houses are replenished with children youth of right honest sort so I could wish that in their negligent or corrupt education were suffred no libertie to insolencie or vice which then they best performe when in thēselues is expressed no example of leude behauiour For in the vertue of the maister is wrought the effecte and example of reformation in the seruant euen as the temperance of the Father is much to instruct his sonne in his due humilitie obedience So that who suffreth in his seruant lies swearing blasphemie whoredomes or other dissolute or idle disposition albeit he be a Knight yet he can not worthely be called a good Knight For that the houses of good Knights ought to be as schooles of instruction to youth and not tauernes to professe epicuritie he that kéepes many haukes and hounds prepares riche and costly banquets holdes a house of generall repaire and receiueth the vnthrifty and banished and he that followeth the delites of the world and forgets his office to god such one in his behauiour bears reason to be called a gentle Knight for that to such belong those ornamentes and enseignes more then to gētlemen folowing Christianitie But acoording to the aduise of the Apostle such one aspireth to be a good Knight who striueth to be a good Christian for that by the law of Iesus Christ none hath libertie to exercise any vice Touching the other doubt in your letter I know not how to giue you any generall rule that hath bene obserued in all regions for that according to the diuersitie of nations men haue alwayes vsed difference of customes Licurgus the law-reader of the Lacedemoniens held such in most honour whose beardes were most hoarie and heads most white with age Promotheus ordeined amongst the Egiptians that to the people of iustice was transferred most honour And king Dridanius was wont to say to the Scicilians that to the priests of the temple most honour was due Bryas kyng of the Argiues gaue most honour to the Philosophers that read in schooles Numa Pompilius amongest the Romanes was of opinion that he was worthy of most reputation to whom had happened the victorie of any famous battell But Anaxarchus the Philosopher ordeined amongest the Phenitiens that in a commonweale such should be most honored who in time of peace intertayned the state in tranquillitie and in
to be captaines for that in that realme is seldome stabilitie of peace quiet whose Prince is to much inclined to wars enterprises By these I pray you beleue that if the warres of Jermaine had not begone whilest I was in these parts I had not made my selfe a partie to them hauing alwais this principal purpose to be reputed rather a ciuil gouernour then a follower of Armes I recomend to you chiefly the honor of GOD and establishement of the Church For that that king can not liue in sewertie who prouides not to haue God honored and the ministerie mainteined Let Princes feare God enterteine iustice reuerence the ministers of the Church and defende the poore So shall they be perfect men pleasing to God who for recompence will not suffer them to be forgotten of their frends nor vanquished of their enemies I wishe you also to communicate together in one frendship and fraternitie For that in common weales greater are the harmes that rise by ciuill factions of one neighbour against an other then by the furie of forreine and publike enemies I wishe you to cutte of all occasions of quarrelles to be cherishers of the poore preseruers of the Fatherlesse and protectors of the Wydows For that to none is God wont to minister more sharpe iustice then to such as restraine compassion to the pore suffer the innocent to receiue oppression And because vertue consistes more in workes then in wordes I exhort you to vse modestie in spéeche to be patient to suffer and prouident in your forme of liuing For it cannot but bring great falt and shame to a gouernour to giue prayses to the people of his common weale and in himselfe beare iust occasion of reprehension And therefore to such as manage estates and gouernementes it apperteynes to haue more confidence in their workes then in their wordes For that the common People is more enclined to iudge of that which they sée then to beléeue thinges which they heare In affaires concerning the Senate I would not haue any of you noted of Ambicion Malice Fraude nor Enuie For that to men of honor truth and vertue it is vnséemely to contende more for the Souereigntie and commaundement of a common weale then for the aduauncement and profite of it The Empire of the Greekes hath bene alwayes contrarie to the gouernement of the Romaines aswell in Armes and Lawes as in opinions For the Grecians had a singuler felicitie in eloquent speaking and to vs hath belonged the propertie of wel working By this I exhort you being assembled in the Senate that you bestow not more time to dispute arguing of controuersies then necessarilie apperteines to the true search and decision of the same Since if you will not entangle your iudgementes with passion and affections you shall without long argument be easelie led to reason and conclusion In this respect many wise men haue thought it more expedient that kinges and Emperours should suffer themselues to be gouerned by men learned then to be learned themselues Forbidding them thereby to leaue to their proper opinions of the which for the most parte they ought to be suspicious Let your iudges and such as sitte in office to solicit the affaires of the common weale be wise men skilfull in lawes expert in customes discréete in thinges they haue to iudge and circumspect in their conuersation and forme of lyfe For in instruction of lyfe and manners more good doth the iudge with his good example then with his seuere punishement and to the well gouernement of a common weale more conducible and necessarie is the wise man then he that is too wel learned Therfore in causes of iustice and iudgement haue regarde to minister the Lawes in Ciuill processes and in matters criminall it is good to moderate their rigor For that in the Creation of seuere and cruell Laws the chiefe purpose was rather to kepe men in terror then to haue the Lawes committed to extreame action So that afore the publication of your sentence you ought to cōsider the age of the offender the time the manner the occasion the confederacie and the value of the offence in all which circumstances may be helpes though not to acquite the trespasse yet to qualifye the rigor of the law in the administration and office whereof we ought to deale in the same rate and measure of mercie towards offenders which God vseth with sinners on whom he exerciseth compassion aboue their desertes and punisheth them vnder the merite of their transgressions And as in criminall offences Iudges ought to thinke that God is more offended then men So if it please him to remitte faultes done agaynst his maiestitie it is a good example to warne vs not to execute the Laws extreamely against those that offend others and not vs Lastly I wishe you in cases of quarrell and wrong that if your enemies doe you any iniurie you will forbeare present reuenge For that to pardon many for the offence of one holdes of the office of Christianitie but to chastice many for the falt of one apperteynes properly to Tirantes Yea though in mans nature the dispight of an iniurie encreaseth the desire of reuenge yet there be wrongs wherein often times men finde more sewertie to dissemble them then to reuenge them The SENATE of Rome writeth to TRAIAN their Emperour partly to aunswere to some particulers of his former Letters and withall expressing Documentes necessarie to the instruction of a Prince RIght Souereigne and worthie Emperour Such was the compassion and regarde of thy late Vncle and predecessor Nervus towardes thée that in the very Article and extreame approch of death he made no sorrow for that his children were dead which might haue inherited his possessions but gaue thankes to God for leauing thée to succéede him in the Empire So that albeit too the good Emperour were successors other then thou both more deare in friendship more bounde in seruice and better experienced in pollicie and Warres Yet he vouchsafed to fixe his eye vpon thée onely as in whom he had most opinion and confidence that thou wouldest eftsoones reuiue the vertues and valour of the good Augustus and roote out the insolencies and Tirannies of Domitian When thy Vncle tooke Possession of the Empire he founde the Treasure dispersed the Senate in faction the People in Mutinie iustice ill obserued and the common weale in generall ruine but thou shalt come to great plentie of Riches the Councell voyde of discention the multitude ignorant in commotions the iudges without corruption and the whole state peacible reformed and florishing beséeching thée with the maistie of so large an Empire to succéede also thy Vncle in custome and constitutions séeing that newe Princes vnder cooller to innouate newe lawes do for the most parte commit their common weales to perdition Lyke as the Fourtéene Princes that haue managed the Empire next afore thee were al naturally of Rome and thou the first Straunger
imprint any carrect in the same By the meaning of which commaundement we may gather that the children of Jsraell hauing dwelt many yeares with the Egipans learned of them many wicked and pernicious customes For as more then any other people they were geuen to the Mathematyke Sciences and other artes and faculties supersticious as Magicke and Nigromoncie so there was no nation that in the death of their friendes expressed greater ceremonies then the Egiptian who showed signes of stronger frendship to his friende being dead then when he liued For when eyther the Father lost his Sonne or the Sonne bereaued of his Father or any other man by death was depriued of his priuate friende they resorted forthwith to this custome to shaue the one halfe of their haire expressing therby that their frende being dead they had lost the one moytie of their hart For which cause God forbad the Hebrews to make themselues balde to the end they should not be like the Egiptian women who in the funerals of their husbands parents childrē or great frends vsed to scratch disfigure their faces with their proper nailes which custome god forbad in the womē of Jsrael least for vsing the ceremonies of the Egiptiās they stood not subiect to the scourges of Egipt the inferiour sacrificators of Egipt whē their high priestes died vsed to make certaine carrects according to their particuler fancie in their handes armes or brestes to the end that as often as they behelde them they might expresse compassion teares as also at the death of their king all the officers seruants of his house made woundes in their armes hands face or head euery one making his wound so much the déeper by how much he stood in fauor with the king But God cōmaunding the Hebrues to refraine such wilfull hurting of thēselues forbad them to imitate the Egiptians nor to folow the customs of the houshold seruants of their king for that in all those cerimonies were effects of superstiton only innouated by the deuill yea they brought hurt to such as liued were in vaine to those that were dead In the olde law God also forbad men to labor the fielde with yokes of oxen asses And to Sowe in one grounde two kindes of graine with such lyke which were not without mistery because all those customes depended vppon the Cerimonies of the Egyptans which God would not should holde any vse amongest the people of Jsraell But here we haue to note that God restrayned not men to vse sorrow and teares in the death of their frendes For as other Cerimonies are in our will eyther to doe or not doe them so sorrow and heauines for the losse or absence of a friende doe as naturallie follow flesh◠and bloud as our appetite to eate and drinke and though by reason some men may dissemble them yet by nature there are fewe that can auoyd them Therfore God that made the hart and ioyned to it his affections neuer added any law to forbid teares and wéeping séeing to the hart whose chiefest propertie consists in tendernes there can be offered nothing more intollerable or grieuous then to sée it selfe deuided frō the thing it holdes most deare the same standing good in apparant example in the experience and disposition of any two creatures who after their long conuersation together if they be seperated or their faunes enforced will imediatly according to their kinde declare their passion the Lion will roare the Cow will yeall the Swine will gront the Dog cannot but howle much more then is the condition of Man subiect to sorrow and heauines as in whom nature bréedes a more quicke and raging sence of passion for the discontinuance of their deare frendes And if we haue compassion ouer the misaduenture of a straunger or the losses of our neighbour suffering casualtie or liuing in absence are we restrained to lesse remorce for the death of our great frend whom we see put into the graue For which cause the Philosopher was of opinion that so many times did a man dye how often he loste his friendes For that since two hartes vnited in one honest affection haue but one being and place of residence it is good reason that we bewayle the death of our chosen friendes euen with the same nature and compassion which we would doe our owne The Seconde part of the discourse is drawne out of Deut. in this text Eligite ex vobis viros sapientes c. my will is sayth God that all such as aspire to the administration of publike gouernemēt shall be wise and noble This commaundement was not pronounced of God without great misterie but chiefely that gouernours should be both wise and noble for that as wisedome without noblenesse is a troublesom thing so nobility without wisedome is but as a soule without a body or as a painted fire that becomes the wall but giues no heat to the beholder Therfore as to be gouerned by a maiestrate flowing in science knowledge fayling of noblenesse is both miserable troublesome so it cannot but be intollerable to liue vnder the controulment of him to whom fortune hath geuen greatnes of place birth grace nature denied discression other temperances of the spirit so that to make vp a full perfection it is necessary the iudge haue knowlege to debate determine causes nobilitie to moderate the residue of the affections of the minde yet The wisedome which god requires in the maiestrates of his cōmon weale ought not to stretch to subtlety or tiranny but to be tempered with modestie swéetnes gracious behauiour for a iudge in the office causes of coūcel is no lesse boūd to the obseruation of the law religion faith equitie then to be voyd of all hate enuy feare couetousnes or other corrupt affectiōs it was not without cause that god cōmaūded to institute the iudges ouer his people of noble cōdition seing it is a great argument of the sewertie tranquility of the state whose magestrate is compoūded of nobilitie and modestie Therfore the first gouernour that administred the cōmonweale of god was the easie gracious Moyses whom gods prouidence led to be nourished in the court of Pharao by the kings daughter to the end that in such societie experience of so many wise and noble iudges he might learne how to entreat assure good men in their innocencie how to chastice the euill amid their wickednes the affaires of war are far different from the policie gouernemēt of a cōmonweale established for that in matters of enterprise it is méete the captaine be valiant but to gouerne at home let the magestrate expresse affabilitie swéetnes for that a ruler ought rather to be terrible in threats then in punishement so to tēper his authoritie that his people may feele his power rather with his liberality thē with iniuries And albeit it is no generall rule that all the
deserue to be chastised and matters that ought to be dissembled So it can not but happen to the furious man that in place to appease and couer iniuries he will of himselfe thunder reproches agaynst the parties But now after the daungers and domages that come by Anger it apperteynes to reason and congruencie to exhibite a fewe remedies to Cure or qualifie those moodes In all our affayres and actions it is good to fore sée both what may happen to vs and what may be sayde of vs For so shall we be Armed that albeit men geue vs cause to be Angrye yet they shall haue no power to make our passion furious And therfore the same néede that the poore man hath of Riches and the Foole of Wisedome the same necessitie hath the harte of patience For béeing Subiect to many Afflictions and the troubles no lesse that assayle him together wyth the daungers that depende on them wthout comparison many mo be the thinges which he ought to suffer in patience then that are Lawfull for him to reuenge wyth his Tongue And if of euery wronge that is done to vs and of euery aduersitie that is naturall to our condition we should reteyne special accompt and reckoning our hands would neuer cease to reuenge our Tongue weary with complayning and our hart wasted and broken with sighing For what man béeing a member of this miserable lyfe to whom is not one equall desire that his dayes and troubles might dissolue together Men béeing so ouergrowne wyth vices and so deuoured wyth affayres and businesses it is maruell that since they are so slow to cutte of their cares and troubles that the waues of their proper aduersities doe not rise and swallowe them vp And if the Phisitions ordeined to cure infirmities of the body would binde themselues to heale the sorows of the hart they should in particuler haue more patients mustering afore their gates then in times past were inhabitantes in Rome when it was best replenished For so naturall is the sickenesse of trouble and vexation that though many eschew it yet few haue power to liue long exempt frō it What is he either past present or to come who in his body hath not felt some paine and in his hart some passion hath not suffered some losse or spoile of his goodes or infamye to his person or at least who can walke so vpryghtlye to whome is not done some Iniurye or some Scorne or Reproache spoken But he that is Vexed wyth all these Aduersities and wyll make Headde agaynste them and Remedye them Let hym bée assured that euen then shall he laye the plotte of the ende and dispatch of his life when he begins to put order to these incurable harmes For as there is no Sea without working no Warre without daunger nor Iourney without trauell Euen so that there is no worldly lyfe voyde of troubles nor any estate without stombling blockes it is most apparant in this that there liues no man so happie which hath not wherin to be greued and wherupon to complaine For how many doe we sée whom Pryde makes fal Enuie consumes Anger torments Pouertie wasteth and Ambicion endeth their dayes so that for the most part such is the miscontentment of our mindes that our aduersities traueling our spirites in Martirdome driue vs to wishe rather an honest death then to languishe in so troblesome a lyfe And so if we will accomplishe this commaundement To be angrie and sinne not let vs in accidentes which the world fortune and nature bring vpon vs dissemble some suffer some conceale some and remedie the rest and in all thinges let vs follow reason and flée opinion For such as enter into Religion SVch as be Religious or aspire to the office and ministerie of the Church ought to haue alwaies afore their eyes the wordes which God spake to Abraham saying Depart out of thy Countrey and from amongest thy frendes and goe into the lande which I shall shewe thée and abyde where I commaunde thée For vnder these wordes shall they finde comprehended all that God doth for them and lykewise that which they are bounde to doe for the seruice of god Abraham being in the house of Tara his father and Aran and Achor his Bretherne Chaldees and Idolators God appeared vnto him and bad him leaue his Countrey and Parentes and goe where he would guide him and rest where he would commaund him and in recompence of this obedience sayth God I will make thée Lord ouer great nombers of people and will so geue thée my blessing as thou shalt for euer remaine blessed Out of these wordes may be gathered foure things which God commaunded Abraham and other foure things which God promised him So that as a Lorde he teacheth him in what he ought to serue him and withall tels him what rewarde he will geue him for his seruice Afore God called Abraham it was not founde that there was any vertue in him and much lesse that he had done any seruice to God only the scriptures make mencion that he was of the generation of Saruth and sonne af Tara and had to his Brother Aran which all were Gentils and Idolators Cassianus sayth that of thrée sorts be called those that come to the perfection of Religion One sort God calles by holy inspirations an other sort is chozen of men by good councels The thirde sort is constreyned to enter into Religion by some necessitie or misaduenture happened to them So that albeit the perfection of Religion be alwayes one yet the meanes to come thereunto are many The first function or estate is called deuine and consistes as is sayd in this when the great goodnes of God so toucheth the hart of a man that he leaueth that which he doth and doth that which he ought estraunging his minde from worldly thinges and raysing it to deuine and heauenly contemplations The seconde is called humaine or worldly as when any wicked liuer is tourned to God by the councell of some good man as Hippolito was conuerted to the Fayth by the instructions of S. Laurence The thirde vocation may be called constrayned or by necessitie as when a man of dissolute conuersation and falling into aduersitie is conuerted to God And as these be the thrée manners of calling and meanes to enter into Religion so if they be wel considered I sée not how the first oftentimes eyther doth much profite nor the last much hinder for more or lesse to serue God in religion For there haue bene many of those which God hath called to Religion condemned and many others which came to serue him by force haue ben saued Christ called and chused to the Colleadge of his Disciples the cursed Judas and the Apostle S. Paule being reuersed and falne from his Horse necessitie compelled him to know Iesus Christ So that Judas being exalted fell and S. Paule being falne was exalted This I bring in this place to the ende that none estéeme much or
occasiōs to sin giue him grace to serue him When the son of god would reueil any secret mistery to any of his dear disciples he vsed to lead thē into solitary places separate frō the brute of the world therby to signifie to al posterities that by how much more god loueth a man by so much more doth he estraung deuide him from the felowship of the world Ducam illum in solitudinem et loquar ad cor eius The soule that is beloued of me saith god by his prophet Osee and which I haue predestinated I wil draw out of the troubles of the worlde and leade him into solitarie places and pryuately reueale vnto his harte my secretes Right happie is that soule whom the Lorde calleth to the desert of Religion there to serue him with greater deuotion follow him with more constancie of hart God hath spoken to many by signes and hath communicated with many by writinges wordes yea to some he hath whispered in their eare But he spekes onely to the hartes of those whom he loueth with his harte And little serues it that God spake to vs in the eare to heare him to our eyes to beholde him and to our tongue to exalt him if with all he spake not to the hart to loue him For it is impossible that he should loue God with his harte who hath him not imprinted in his hart And then doth GOD speake to the hart of a Christian when he drawes him out of the stormes of this worlde and leades him into the solitarinesse of a Monasterie where he may his body in puritie and his minde in contemplation For the trée that standes by the high waye geues more shaddow to the passenger then fruite to the owner that prunes it God doth not onely say J will draw him from the worlde and leade him into the desert But he sayde he would speake to his hart meaning that little doth it auayle to be led into the desert of Religion if with a good harte we doe not abandon the thinges of the worlde For more doth it hurt then good if our Surgion draw from vs a grosse tooth and leaue behinde some corrupt rote to infect the gumes And therefore who forsakes the world with good hart and entreth into Religion with holy intention it is he with whose harte God doth communicate and loues him with his harte God hath promised that wheresoeuer two be gathered together in his name he would be the third therefore it is good Religion to beléeue that he is in all houses well corrected and in euery vertuous congregation compounded vpon religious persones magnifying and seruing him both daye and night So that such as are admitted to a vertuous assemblie can not haue in this Worlde a more great felicitie And therefore not without great misterie God commaunded Abraham to abandon the house which he had builded and the inheritance which he had established thereby to instruct all professors of religion that in all temporall thinges are impediments to be good Christians and hinder the science of perfection in religion Declina a malo et fac bonum thou oughtest to flee darkenesse if thou wilt enioy the light thou must folow the right way if thou wilt not erre auoyd the mire and durt if thou wilt be with out spot and cleane yea thou must first forbeare to be euill if thou wilt begin to be good so shalt thou which the councell of Dauid eschew the vice and follow vertue This discourse was vttered in the presence of a Noble Lady at her Churching SInt lumbi vestri praecincti et lucernae ardentes in manibus vestris Oh thou that commest or meanest to come to the house of the Lorde sayth Christ it behoueth thée to be straightly girt afore the Candle the Candlesticke be giuen thée in thy hande For amongest the Seruantes of God if we sée any goe heauely sadly and discomforted it is a good argument to say that he is negligent not well girt The Scripture beares witnesse that Elias in the Desert S. Iohn in the Wildernesse S. Peter in Prison S. Paule in Ephesus and Christ vppon the Pinacle although they were thinly cloathed yet were they well girt By which is gathered this instruction that notwithstanding the troubles and persecutions happening to perfect men they ought not for all that to giue ouer that they haue begon nor be colde or negligent in that they haue taken in hande The gowne that is well girt kéepes the body warme and gathereth lesse wynd Euenso the man that professeth a religiō to serue God being girt with puretie and holy intentions is the better armed against the winde of vanities of this world and no lesse prepared for the heate of deuotion and seruice of god So that then wée may say a man is well girt when we sée him in the way to be holy and iust For so abstinent and continent ought we to be in religion that both the worlde may behold our vertue and many made better by our example And therefore where the LORDE saith it behoueth vs to haue our gownes girt afore wée take the candels in our handes it is to aduise vs that in such sorte should wée leaue bound trodden out and naked the vanities and ryches of this world that they haue no power to followe vs and wée lesse desier too goe séeke them The lighted candelles which wée should haue in our handes be the good and holy works we ought to doe and as he is one that holdes the candell and he an other that pertakes in the vse and light of it so the good worke of the holy man is not onely profitable to himselfe alone but it also serueth to edifie an other that séeth him do it with all like as he is not exempt from sinne who to an other giues occasion to sinne in like sorte that man can not be without meritte whose vertue is the cause that an other doth any good action the same agreeing with the interpretation of this text of the Prophet Particeps sum omnium timentium te when we are the cause that other men serue God wée do communicate and pertake saith he with the merit of such good thinges as they do in his seruice It sufficeth not saith Iesus Christ to holde one onely candell in our handes but it is requisite to the office and pietie of Christians to haue many For as the true christian and man of perfect deuotion to GOD receiues of the plentifull hand of the Lorde many graces and benefites So it is necessary that he do him many seruices and kéepe his spirit in continuall exercise of thankesgiuing For as this is common in the office and frendshippe of men that by how much lesse we are raised to benefites aboue our merit so much more are bounde to owe al those due respectes of recompence and ciuility as may hold vs acquited and leaue our frend satisfied Euen so with God this
then in many others yet your curiousnes brings with it this suspition that you haue more want of iudgment then lacke of time specially desiring aunswere to those demaundes whose vse ought to be famyliar with all men that beare opinion of knowledge or science And where you Wrote too mée but in sport and for the exercize of your memorie I will not wythstanding aunswere you in good earnest Folowing therein the maner of the Ancient Orators who in causes most base and of least importance expressed a greatest shew of their eloquence Demaundes and Aunswers WHere you aske me how one man may know an other to the ende he may be eyther accepted or eschewed I aunswere that there be foure rules to instruct you First what affaires he takes in hande what works he doth what wordes he speaketh and what companie he foloweth For the man that of nature is proude in his busines negligent in his wordes a lyar and calleth to his companions euill men deserues not to be imbrased and much lesse to be trusted Since in men in whome is layde no grounde of vertue is no expectation of fayth or honestie You aske me which be the thinges that in this lyfe can not be bought for treasure and much lesse any liuing thing can holde value and comparison with them I Aunswer they be these foure The libertie we haue the science we learne the health we enioy and the vertue for the which we deserue prayse For libertie lighteth the hart knowledge enricheth the vnderstanding health preserues our lyfe and vertue is the glory of the soule All which are somuch the more precious by how much they are the true figures fore runners of Gods grace to such as it pleaseth him to estéeme chuse Where you aske me what be the things which soonest deceiue man by whose means he runs with more readinesse into destructiō I say they be these foure A thirst to haue much a desire to know much an experience to liue long an ouerwéening of our owne worthinesse value All which are most daungerous stumbling blockes to make man fall for that too great knowledge endes with folly too much wealth bréeds pryde in liuing long we grow negligent and in presuming of our owne value we fall into forgetfulnesse of our selues So that as euery one of these in perticuler is sufficient to make a man fall so in them all is ful hability to holde him downe that he neuer rise againe To your demaunde what thinges are necessarie to a iudge to the ende he vse truth and equitie and not to be noted of tyranie I aunswere that he ought to heare patiently aunswere wisely iudge iustly and execute mercifully For to that iudge that is impatient in hearing vaine or frayle in his aunswers particuler in iudgementes and cruell in execution can not worthely be ascribed the administration of iustice since the office of a good iudge is to consult with the law with religion with fayth with equitie and with mercie You aske me what be the things that make a man discréete in his be hauiour wyse in his wordes whereunto I aunswere to reade much to be priuie to the customes of many countreyes to haue endured many perplexities and managed great affayres For to rayse a man to the true estimation of wisedome is too trauell many countreyes to studie many Lawes and Doctrines to be hable to endure much paines and to haue experience of graue affaires To your demaunde what be the things that a man thinkes he hath when he hath them not I say they are these foure Many frendes great wisedome much knowledge and great power For that there is no man how mightie so euer he be who is not subiect to be vanquished by an other no man so wise in whose doinges is not error no mans knowledge so resolute who is not ignorant in some thinges nor any man so well beloued who hath not some secret enemie So that we haue fewer frendes then we suppose our power lesse then we desire our knowledge not so much as we presume and all our wisedome full of imperfection Touching your demaunde to know what be the thinges wherein a man doth the soonest vndoe himselfe and most slowlie recouer I say they be these foure To be dilatorie in his businesse to forsake the councell of a faythful frende to meddle with thinges that he ought not and to dispende aboue his proportion For the man that is negligent in that he takes in hande forbeareth the aduise of his wise frende ioyneth himselfe to affaires of perill and difficultie and dispendeth aboue the measure of his reuenue such one shall easely fall and finde no helpe to ryse againe You aske me what be the thinges which aboue all other a man would not endure I say they be these foure Pouertie in olde age sicknesse in person infamie after honor and banishement from his naturall countrey For to be sicke in prison too be Poore and Olde to be detected after wée haue borne Honor and to bée Exiled wythout hope eftsoones to recouer the solace of our countrey be passions so intollerable that to the valiant mind an honest death were more plausible then to languish lyke a martir in such a miserable life And wher you aske me what be the thinges which God abhorreth and are abhominable to men I aunswere they are comprehended in these four A poore man to be proude a rich man to be couetous an olde man to be lecherous and a young man shamelesse For where young men are impudent olde men without modestie pore men voyde of humilitie and the rich sort deuided from charitie there can be no vertue cherished nor good example ministred you aske me what ought to be the qualities of such as men chuse to their frende and in whom they may repose and take recreation to such frendes belong these foure conditions To be eloquent to be liberall to be tractable and to be trustie For where is a swéete affabilitie of spéeche a franke liberalitie of that they haue a nature easie to be induced and a minde that brooks no corruption there is no doubt of honestie and lesse suspition of treason To your demaunde to know in what thinges a man receiueth most sorrow and his minde most troubled I aunswere that it is in these foure To sée the death of his Children to heare of the losse of his goodes to behold the prosperitie of his enemies and cannot reforme the vanities of his frends Nature sure cannot minister a more torment to the harte of a man then to burie his children he hath nourished too loase the goodes he hath got together to be subiect to his enemie sée his frende continue in abuse and follie You aske me what be the things for the which a man doth most murmure and discloseth soonest his impacience They be these foure To serue without recompence to aske and be denied to
name then Father And albeit I haue bene sought to and councelled of many since my election to the kingdome yet amongest all I reserue my selfe to bée familiar onely with thée considering that in such as sue to giue me councell is an intention to draw my will to theirs where I know thou wilt not aduize me but for my profit and commoditie of my honor Often times I haue heard thée say that in such as geue Councell to Princes should be libertie and fréedome from all passions and affections For that in the action of Councell giuing where the will is most inclined there the spirite and witte haue most strength That a Prince in all thinges doe his will I doe not allow and that he take Councell of euerie one is lesse séemely Therefore as to the affaires of a kingdome cannot but be a great necessitie of aduice so let the Prince make this choyse of his Councellors rather to be Councelled by those of whom he is loued then by such as himselfe loueth For in the affection of the Counceller to his Prince is great securitie and care of the common businesse where from such as be followers of the Prince can grow no great matter of prouidence for the publike safetie as being men all together dedicated to the complexion and humors of the Prince Wherin hauing had long experience of thy déepe insight in matters of policie and no lesse expectation that thou wilt vse no lesse care to direct me now being a Prince then thou tookest paynes to instruct me when I followed thée as thy Disciple I will that from henceforth to thée belong the chiefe charge to geue me Councell in my most weightie affaires and to aduertize me of the imperfections and faultes that from time to time appeare in me For as Rome holdes me for the protector of their common weale so I reserue thée to be the beholder and examiner of me lyfe And if at any time thou findest me frowarde to be warned by thée in thinges necessarie for my reformation I pray thée conster it not to any displeasure towardes thée Since in such case my passion shall not be for the warnings thou géeuest mée but for the Shame that I haue Erred And as to haue bene norished in thy house to haue hearde thy Lectures to haue imitated thy doctrines and to haue liued vnder thy Discipline haue bene sure principall means to preferre me to the Empire So it cannot but be ascribed too great inhumanitie to thée if thou forbeare to helpe me to manage and guide that which thou hast procured me to win get estéeming it I assure thée to my great felicitie to haue familaritie with such one as thou whose wisedome makes thée worthie to be a iudge of my Councelles and in thy fayth I may be bolde to repoze the Controlement of my lyfe Lastly where thou aduizest me to continue such one as I was before with condition not to decline I beleue thou drawest this warning from the example of Nero whose gouernement béeing well ordered for the first fiue yeares of his Reigne he grewe afterwardes to encrease more in wickednesse then in dignitie But rather then thou shalt finde me successor to the impudēcies and vilenesse of Nero I pray thée pray to God to giue me no sufferāce to reigne in Rome since that Tyrantes procure dignities to exercize Crueltie and good men aspire to kingdomes to the end to maintaine vertue And therefore to such as were good afore and are corrupt by the place there is more cause of pytie then malice For that if fortune rayse them it is not to honor them but to make them fall And to wisemen the miserie of vnfortunate men is an example to warne others to kéepe a meane in their happie estate The Emperour TRAIAN writing to the SENATE of Rome discloseth the trauelles of Princes in their Gouernementes IT is not vnknowne to vs that death hath called from you your dear Lord the Emperour and my late predecessor whom if you Lament as in the losse of a iust Prince I haue no lesse reason of sorrow for the want of a Father so graue and pitifull When Children loaze a good Father and a whole comunaltie a iust vertuous prince there can be no sorow more intollerable or that worldly men cannot suffer losses of more heauie importance since good Princes are the same to common weales that God is to sinners who though we forget to loue and obey him yet he forbeares not to protect and prouide for vs The death of a good man deserues to be sorrowed of all but the losse of a iust Prince ought to be extreamely and bitterly lamented for that when a priuate man dyeth there is lost but one but when a good Prince is taken away there dyeth with him the felicitie of a whole kingdome So that if GOD would suffer vs to sell the liues of good Princes already deade the price sure would be to base to buy them againe with tears since euen with the most precious Golde and siluer can not be weighed downe the price and Raunsome of a vertuous man If Treasure would haue redéemed the lyfe of Hector the Troyans would haue furnished it in great aboundance or if money might eftsoones haue breathed life into Haniball there would haue bene found no want in the Carthaginiens But God hauing made all mortall thinges hath authoritie to dispoze of them euen by the same power wherwith he hath Created them of nothing reseruing onely to himselfe Immortalitie How reuerent is the vertue of good men and with what prerogatiues they are indued appears easelie in this that men beare more honor to the Sepulchers of the vertuous then to the emboasted Palaices of the wicked The good and vertuous man though he bée farre absent and out of vse and knowledge yet men loue him serue him and aunswere for him where to the wicked is geuen no credit in that he sayth and much lesse are we thankefull to him in that hée doth for vs For to the euill man is appoynted this propertie of iustice to be doubted most where he would faynest haue credit and not to be beleued though he speake the trueth Touching my election to the Empire as it was left by my predecessor demaunded of the People and approued by you so I doubt not but my gouernment will be so much the more plausible and profitable to Rome by how much in my adoption were fulfilled all thinges agréeable to god And as it serues to little for men to chuse Princes if they be not confirmed by god So there be certaine signes to discerne such as are called by God from others chosen by men For that which men by sodeine Councell aduaunceth God by due iustice bringes downe where those things which the mightie God planteth albeit they stande open to all windes and receiue many aduersities yet they neuer fall yea though they incline and bende there is no power
to stryke wyth our handes nor reproche or slaunder wyth our Tongues When I rebuke you for ministring such inciuilitie to the poore Moare you aunswered that it was an auncient custome of the coūtrey to call them so in which respect you helde it no offence to conscience to vpbreade them nor breach of ciuilitie to vse the tearmes where wyth your Tongue was most enured Oh that men of vertue and honor taking vpon them to correct a fault are bounde to great consideration of the estate and nature of the fault lest in séeking to reforme others they Condemne themselues as may be iustly imputed agaynst you who in tourning the custome of the Countrey to the helpe of your fault to call him Infidell you cōmitted the greater offence according to the saying of God to Moyses Take héede Oh Children of Jsraell that when you enter into the Lande of Promise you kéepe no custome wyth the Lawes of the Egiptians Wherein we are warned that if the Lawe of our Countrey be euill and the customes wicked we ought not onely not to alow of them but also not to obserue them since it is as lawfull to discontinue an ill Custome as to forbeare to doe ill and wyth as good lybertie may we reforme an ill Lawe though it hath stande by long continuance as to translate any auncient Garment and reduce him to the present fashion The reuerent Moare founde himselfe much iniuried wyth your wordes and the assistance not a little dishonored yea the remeynder of that race being in good towardnes to be adopted into the church made their reckoning not to become Christians if for their fayth they should be vexed wyth such reproches So that this your fault is the greater for that in following the Children of Hely you trouble such as are baptized and are the cause that others will not come to Christendome Vidi afflictionem populi mei in Egipto c. I am not sayth God to Moyses so carelesse as men thinke of those that serue me nor forgetfull to punishe offendours Since I haue opened mine eares to the cyres of my People in Egipt and doe sée the great tiranies which the Gouernours of the Kingdome vse agaynst them for which cause I will draw them into libertie and put the Egyptians to punishement Wherein wyth the exposition of S. Augustine vpon these wordes the Hebrues felt themselues not somuch wronged nor God was so greatly displeased wyth the trauelles they endured as wyth the particuler iniuries which they receyued of the Egiptians Which I beséeche you may warne you hereafter not to be so rashe and abandoned to wordes séeing I neuer knew any man minister iniuries to an other but there was inquisition made of his owne lyfe and doinges yea euen to the desiphering of his race which is falne out against your selfe for that at the instant when you reproched the reuerent Moare and called him Infidell there were that stoode behinde your backe that sayde secretly if he were descended of the Moares your auncestors were of no better Linage Such is the gaiue that People of ill Tongues doe reape who if they outrage such as are on line others will deface their progenie that are dead which being a iustice appoynted to such as are ministers in malice yet there it may be auoyded where is gouernement and restraint of Tongue And therefore I wishe you to vse Charitie to the ende you may finde recompence of Charitie and forbeare not to doe well the better to nourishe good example and kepe you from the imputation of the Sonnes of Hely A Letter to a Noble man touching familiarly how inconuenient it is for a man maried to haue a Woman frende besides his Wyfe SIr it brings no smal griefe vnto me that after so long intermission of letters there is present occasion giuen not to common according to our custome but to debate iniuries betwéene you and your Wyfe who as I vnderstande hath no lesse néed of Consolation then you of Correction Wherein by how much I labor to séeke out in whom resteth the fault by so much doe I finde you guiltie in the occasion and in her no want of reason assuring you that if I founde her as disordered as you are reported to be disolute I would as well pronounce her worthy of sentence as with all men you are holden voyde of merit And if there can be required of a man no more but that he bée good the same ought most of all to be expressed in a woman since in her is more subiection to iudgement and lesse habilitie to cloake or couer yea if her vertues appeare not in example her light burnes dimme and as a shadowe doth but delude the worlde which béeing farre otherwayes in the behauiour of your Wyfe and my néece it may please you to pardon me if in this Letter I defend her innocencie and proue your fault since of frends Councell ought to be taken and of parents remedie is to be ministred Corinthus a notable tirant afore he made choyce of his wife desired of Demosthenes to know what condicions his wife ought chiefely to be furnished withall to whom the Philosopher gaue this counsell Be sure sayth he that thy wife be rich to the end the necessities of thy life may be supplied and the countenance of thy estate plentifully supported Let her be nobly borne the better to minister to thy reputation and ioyne honour to thy posteritie Let her bée young to the end her seruice may better delite thee and thou haue no occasion to find mariage loathsome Let hir be faire the better to content thy desires and conteyne thée from straunge affections And let her be vertuous and wise to the end thou maist with securitie reappose thy estate vppon her gouernement For who takes a wife without these cōdicions is sure to find that which he feareth and misse of that that ought to make his mariage happy since of all accidents ordeyned to trouble the life of man there can not be a more infelicitie then to be ill encountered in mariage There is nothing in this world so perfect nor any person so thorowly accomplished to whom is not eyther further perfection to be added or iust cause of reformation or amendement And such is the infirmitie of our common nature that there are few of so full prosperitie who in some respect complayine not against the qualitie of their estate For many we sée are raysed to great wealth but they beare shame of their base linage some enobled by birth and parentage and yet are followed with pouertie Many blissed both with riches and nobilitie but they want the delite of children and some gladded with procreation and they eftsones made sorie with their ill demeanor And to speake of naturall thinges we find by experience that if the fire comfort vs with his warmth it vexeth vs againe with his heat If the ayre minister recreation when it is temperat it puts vs againe into passion
the posteritie generation of his house this being an infallible rule in the reuenge of God that when he deferreth he striketh with more vehemencie redoubling the blow according to the time he spareth to strike I pray you tell m◠if it be ill done to hurt an other why is it your practise and if it be a vertue to make restitution why forbeare you to satisfie the wronges you haue done For my part I can not accompt it either to honour or valiancie for a man to put him selfe in necessitie for the safetie of his person eschewing the face of iustice no more is it wisedome in any man to offer his life to perill in hope of remedie I doubt whether at this instant you stand in greater necessitie of counsell then of reliefe for that they bée two miseries that goe ioyntly with afflictions Amongest all your other friends debating of your fortune I pray you think that to giue you counsell I am very yong to minister to your wants I am a religious man And yet by the vertue of our friēdship I cā not but send to you though not to satisfie you yet to shew my self careful hoping that séeing my facultie stretcheth no further you wil accept my good wil since that who giueth what he hath can shew no greater liberalitie Touching your businesse I wish you to withdraw your selfe from thence and be more familiar here by which meane you shal be further deuided from your aduersaries and find your iudges more fauorable the same being also a degrée to appease the mindes of your enemies if you cease to search them further that being the greatest reuenge you can giue to make small estimation of your enemies There is no loue that weareth not nor hatred that endeth not if we giue place to time and cut occasions from vs For as tract of time carieth with it a law of forgetfulnes of things past so when the louer discontinueth and the enemie is absent the loue is turned into forgetfulnes and the hatred into a mountaine of smoke Who wil be frée from blame must not only forbeare to do ill but eschew the suspicion euen so to purchase quiet it is good to doe no wrong but to keepe vs from quarrell it is necessary to cut of occasions By the importunitie of your request to solicit your cause you séeme to hold my friendship suspected Wherein your error is so much the greater by how much you know your businesse findes fauour by my diligence and industrie And your selfe can giue good testimonie that from the beginning my friendship hath bene greater then your merit and in my care and counsel haue consisted the whole course of your well doing so that I wish your condicion better tempred then to be bitter in hatred and suspicious in friendship You ought to know that in all things there is meane but in the conuersation of a friend with whom this is chiefely to bée obserued either altogether to forsake him or wholy to trust him assuring you that that mā is no friend that retayneth distrust séeing friendship requireth faith and merit Amongst true friends nothing ought to be reiected nor any thing to deserue suspicion And albeit it is not out of pollicie to stand in distrust doubt of our enemie yet so simple ought we to be towardes our friend as in his bosome to powre our secrets and not to be Ielouse of any counsell he giueth since true friendship can brooke no distrust and where is no treason there can be no possibilitie of deceite A Letter of a daintie Lady falne sicke for the death of her little dogge MAdame taking the opportunitie as it is I am bold to write to you not so much to comfort your sorow as to rebuke the occasion estéeming me so much the lesse apt to minister remedie by how much your disease is particuler light and fantastike Amongest such as are sicke it is a ready degrée to amendement to reappose hope in their Phisition euen so where the cause is more then naturall there the office of the Phisition is but vaine for that the patient languisheth more by opinion thē by infirmitie It ill becomes the Phisition to laught at the griefe of his Patient and yet the cause being found vaine and easie there is no reason he should make sorowe where the cure is neither desperate nor doubtfull and more doth it concerme the comfort of the sick that he be mery with the passion of his Patient then to dissemble a heauines in that which of it selfe is both light and friuolous It hath bene alwaies a condicion of the world that where some perished others found safetie where one receiued honour an other suffered infamie And where some find cause to smile and laugh others are followed with teares wéeping al proceding of the instabilitie and change that followeth all the thinges of the world And as in one place of the sea we sée the water calme and mylde and in an other full of tempest and storme and one part of the land disposed to diuersitie of weathers and an other quarter all cleare and resolued So it happeneth many times to the Children of men that according to their diuersitie of complexions they bring forth varietie of Passion some suffring sicknes when others enioy health many subiect to malencolly when others delite to be merie and sundrie féele the head-ach with laughing when the rest get sore eyes with teares and wéeping So that it being a thing sure that calmes succéede stormes and stormes followe fayre weather it is good that none swell and rise high in prosperitie and much lesse be doubtfull in aduersitie For that in the end there is no perplexitie which weareth not nor any pleasure which loaseth not his proper qualitie And as all thinges are to be taken in one of these thrée sortes either to lament them laugh at them or dissemble them So good Madame your Passion rising but for the losse of your litle Dogge deserueth more to be laughed at then dissembled séeing that as you loued it vainely so though you wéepe for it yet your sorrowe can not bée but light Our Moother Eue sorowed for her sonne Abell and Mary Magdalen wept for her sinnes but you bearing litle compassion to your present offences and lesse consideration to your vertues past forbeare not to shed teares for the losse of your litle Dogge A passion heretofore neuer expressed by any and much lesse conuenient to your reputation grauetie For that to great Ladies striuing to be holden modest and vertuous it ought to be a chiefe care to auoyd the imputation of vanitie lightnes And true teares being no other thing the droppes of bloud which distil from the hart by the eyes there is nothing wherein we can expresse better effect of true affection then to wéepe for the losse of our friend For that the sorowfull hart being enclosed within the intrailes hauing neither féete to goe nor handes to make
and those that would can not Oh it is time you had some sence of the miseries wée féele seeing that if in reducing them thus to memory my tongue faynteth my eyes growe dimme my hart vanisheth and my flesh trembleth Much more grieuous is it to sée them in my countrey to heare them with mine eares to touch them with my finger and to tast them in my hart yea the iniquitie of your iudges is so great and the iustice of this Senate so partiall that it exceedes the facultie of flesh and bloud to endure the one and is hatefull to all good men to heare of the other And therefore in the accompt of all that I haue sayd I growe to this conclusion that one of these two thinges are to bée done eyther to chastice me if I haue lied or if I haue told truth you to bee depriued of your offices wherein for my part if you thinke my tongue hath taken an vnlawfull libertie to publish the roundnes and simplicitie of my hart I stretch out my selfe afore you in this place and do offer my head to the Axe assuring my selfe of more honour by my death then you can merit fame or renoume by ioyning so many miseries to my wretched life Here the sauage man gaue â— to his Oration leauing the Senate in such remorse for the oppressions of Germany that the next daye they established other Iudges ouer that part vppon Daunby and procéeded to punish the corruption of others for peruerting so noble a common weale Beholde here sir what holinesse flowed out of the mouth of an Ethnike from whom I wishe you wyth other iudges mercenary as you are to fetch your directions to reforme the Prouinces committed to your gouernement and with all to discouer the subtilties corruptions and iniquities of inferior officers subsisting in Cities and common weales For who would set him downe to describe faythfully the deceites the delayes the perplexities and daungerous ends of sutes he should find it a subiect not to be writteÌ„ with inke but with blood séeing if euery suter suffred as much for the holy faith of Christ as he endureth about the trauell of his processe there would be as many martirs in chaunceries and other courtes of iustice and record of Princes as was at Rome in the times of persecution by the old Emperours so that as to begin a processe at this day is no other thing then to prepare sorow to his hart complaintes to his tongue teares to his eyes trauaile to his féete expenses to his purse toyle to his men triall of his friendes and to all the rest of his body nothing but paine and trauell So the effects and condicions of a processe are no other then of a rich man to become poore of a spirite pleasant to settle into malencholly of a frée mind to become bouÌ„de from liberalitie to fall to couetousnes from truth to learne falsehode and shiftes and of a quiet man to become a vexer of others So that I sée no other difference betwene the ten plagues that scourged Egipt and the miseries that afflict suters then that the calamities of the one were inflicted by Gods prouidence and the torments of the other are inuented by the malice of of men who by their proper toyle make themselues very Martirs ⸫ ¶ FINIS Three desires amongest friends The propertie of Gods loue towards vs. That that is coÌ„mon to all ought not to be intollerable to one Death the very effect and stipend of sinne VVhat death is All men subiect to the lawe of nature and fortune Passions of the minde cured with the longnesse of time The remedie of a heart grieued The bonde of a friend Prosperit aduersitie haue societie together by nature Men are the instruments of our owne mishapes Tirantes vse triall by armes but the iust sort referre their causes to the arbitrement of the Lawes For banished men Happie is the punishment by the which we are passed into greater perfection No fortune can resist him to whom nature hath giuen magnanimitie of minde Men not accustomed to aduersitie haue least rule ouer their passions Priueledges of banished men A Lawe to punishe vnthankefulnes by death M. Aurelius to Popilion captaine of the partes God giues victories not to such as fight most but where he loueth best Fortune is most variable in the action of warre Fortune hath a free wil to com and go when she list He bears his miserie best that hydes it most It is better to suffer that wee feare then by feare to be alvvayes in martirdome That is frank gift which is giuen without respect That man is happy that hath good desires True nobilitie depends of vertue and al other things are to of fortune Much is in the Father to make his children refourmed The lavve of Christ giues no libertie to do euill Vertue prepares vs to imortalitie To restraine punishment is a great error in gouernement Punishments for theeues VVhat is required of a iudge in matters of councell A magistrate ought rather to be terrible in threates then in punishment Math. 10. Praise of vvisdome Psal. 118. Ierom. 4. 1. Kings 16. Eccle. 3. ScileÌ„ce is a gift vvithout perill Ezech. 3. Esay 6. Gene. 4 Math. 13. Math. 5 Luke 11 Fiue iniuries don to Christ at his suffering A circumstance of the passion of Christ Malice the mistrese of iniustice Psal. 128. Psal. 12â— Christ vsed most svveete vvordes when he asked pardoÌ„ for his enemies Math. 27. An indiscreet demaunde of the Iewes Genes 3. Genes 7. Genes 19. Exod. 32. Ad huc carnes erant in dentibus eoruÌ„ et ecce furor domini et percussit populum plaga magna Resensui quod fecit Abimelech Jsrael vade ergo et interfice a viro vsque ad muliere bouem â—ouem et Camelum c. 1. King. Psal. 50 A good praier Psal. 108. god hath made all thinges by vveight and measure VVisedome 11. A question not impertinent The solucion of the doubt â–ª God pearceth into the thoughts and intentions of men Faith is the ground of our saluation The mother of Christ Jbi fides non habet meriâ—u vbi humanum ratio habet experimentum God in his election maketh no difference of person age â—tates sex or calling Heare is verified the word of God that when the sinner hath contrition God will kepe no remembrance of his sinnes Math. 26 Actes 5. VVe ought to loue our neighbour for that he loueth God. He that loueth God cannot perish 2. Cor. 13. Charitas est cum diligirous Deum propter se proximuÌ„ propter Deuns The man of God loues not his neighbour for any wordlâ— respect but for God. Psal. 119. By the death of Christ tooke ende the sinagog Christ requires not but the offering of our hart How wickedly the euill theefe spake hanging on the Crosse Neque tu times deum qui in eadem daÌ„natione es non quidem digna factis recipimus hic auteÌ„ quid mals fecit God is